Mark 16:1-8 (Easter)

Here are links for Greek commentary on all four Gospel
Matthew 28:1-10
Mark 16:1-8
Luke 24:1-12
John 20:1-18

Summary:  This familiar text offers many directions for preaching.  One unique feature of Mark's Gospel is the name of Jesus, given by the Angel, "Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified."  As the grammar note explains, the word crucified here indicates not simply a past action but a present state:  "Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, but in a cosmic sense is still in the state of being crucified."  This is a witty way for Mark to get at the point:  The risen Christ still has holes in his hands.

Sermon idea cluster #1

αλειφω ("anoint"; here as ηλειφον; 16.1)  Earlier in Mark, Jesus' disciples anointed people with oil in order to heal them (6:13).  I wonder if sometimes we are healed as we do the right thing, honoring the dead, showing love, in the face of a merciless world.

αρωματα ("spices"; literally "aromata"; 16.1)  Footnote of NET Bible is interesting here.  Because Jews' didn't practice embalming...spices were used not to preserve the body, but as an act of love, and to mask the growing stench of a corpse.   A potential sermon note here: They were doing the right thing, even when hope seemed lost.  It reminds me of this Vaclav Havel quote:  "Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."

Sermon idea cluster #2

μνημειον ("tomb" or "monument"; 16.2)  This word comes from the Greek for memory (think: mneumonic device).  The tombs are a place of memory, interesting in itself but even more so because

θυρα ("gate" or "door"; 16.3)  The word for entrance means also door.  So the "entrance of the tomb" is literally, "the door to memories." 

Προάγει ("go ahead"; 16:7)  Jesus is not in the past; nor is he in memory.  He is not in nostalgia, but is on the loose!

Sermon idea cluster #3

γαρ ("for" or "however"; 16:8)  My father once preached a great sermon on this word.  Here is the deal.  This word is a conjunction.  It should not, no cannot end a sentence.  But here it does.  So what is up?  My dad's sermon was that the Gospel message continues on in our lives.

Sermon idea cluster #4

εκστατις ("exstatis" - ecstasy; 16.8)  Accordance has a Thayer Greek dictionary.  Citing Philo, it says this regarding this "out of state" - 

"that of the man who by some sudden emotion is transported as it were out of himself, so that in this rapt condition, although he is awake, his mind is so drawn off from all surrounding objects and wholly fixed on things divine that he sees nothing but the forms and images lying within, and thinks that he perceives with his bodily eyes and ears realities shown him by God."  Are they afraid or simply so in awe of what has happened.   In this way, is τρομος (tremble) a bad thing or a profoundly good thing, akin to the last verse of "where you there"?  Are they afraid because something bad has happened or because the whole world has just flipped up upside down?  What is God is actually alive and doing things, going ahead of us??

Note -- the ancients were more welcoming of the spiritual reality breaking into our world.  How does this happen to us?  Does it happen anymore?  What pries open our closed (materialist) system?  

Perhaps this is why they are ζητεῖτε (seeking, 16:6) - seeking for something beyond themselves?  What opens our eyes, I offer, forever shutting down a strict materialism is the combination of suffering and resurrection that makes no sense in a closed system that has no evil and no good.

Sermon Cluster #5

All the verbs are you plural :-)

Sermon Cluster #6 

(A brief commentary on the Perfect tense:)

The perfect tense indicates a previous action that still describes the current state.  Hence:

αποκεκυλισται ("rolled"; 4) and περιβεβλημενον ("dressed"; 5).  In both cases, the previous action of rolling and dressing still are in force.  Thus, we read with total surprise:

εσταυρομενον ("crucified"; 6).  This word is also in the perfect, meaning an action happened in the past that still describes the state of affairs.  The angel declares that even though he is risen, Jesus is still in the state of being crucified.  You are seeking the crucified one; he is risen.  Jesus is alive but he still has the wounds in his hands.

Easter (RCL and NL)

Here are links for Greek commentary on the resurrection accounts in all four Gospel
Matthew 28:1-10
Mark 16:1-8
Luke 24:1-12
John 20:1-18

Note:  All four Gospels do not portray an entirely resolved emotional situation.  Our anthems on Easter project robust celebration and confidence.  The Easter Gospels show fear, confusion and the dawning of the entirely unexpected.

A teaser from the posts on Luke 24:1-12
προς εαυτον ("to himself"; 24.12)  Most translators take the phrase, "to himself" to mean "to his possessions," namely, Peter's house (including BDAG).  Hence they translate it "Peter went to his house."  Yet, Peter does not necessarily go to his home. It literally says, "He went away to himself." This could just as naturally read, "He went away by himself." As the KJV puts it "wondered in himself."  Most translators likely base their translation on John 20:10, where it is more clear that the disciples went home.  But Luke's imagery is of Peter walking away by himself, pondering these events, likely without any real direction in his wanderings.
Luke's presentation of the Resurrection story gives us permission to struggle with the Good News.  It is so good, so amazing, that even the first disciples struggled with it.

A teaser from the posts on Matthew 28:1-10 and Mark 16:1-8:
εσταυρομενον ("crucified"; 6).  This word is also in the perfect, meaning an action happened in the past that still describes the state of affairs.  The angel declares that even though he is risen, Jesus is still in the state of being crucified.  You are seeking the crucified one; he is risen.  Jesus is alive but he still has the wounds in his hands.

My pastoral thought, reflecting on the Greek, is that the women have the courage and compassion to go to the tomb.  It can be easy to make Easter into a day when we criticize those who focus on the grave; who focus on grief.  I think as Christians we have the power to grieve because we have hope.  In short, we can say good-bye and miss them because we will see them again.

A teaser from the post on John 20:1-18:
μνημειον ("tomb", 20:1)  This word comes from the Greek for memory (like English "mnemonic" is something that helps you remember).  The complaint almost reads, "They have taken Jesus out of my memory!"  There is something to play with here, about memory and loved ones.  Jesus isn't just a memory; your loved ones aren't just a memory.  Jesus is alive!